I keep hearing everywhere that there is some 'ideal' leg length ratio for how long your thighs are in relation to calves. Does anyone know of any numbers/figures to go with this statement? I would like to to build up on my climbing ability and this is just to see if it's worth concentrating on climbing, and not a dicipline more suited to my body type such as time trialling for example. My height is 5 foot 11 inches and my inside leg is 33 inches (14" perineum to knee, 19" knee to floor - about 1:1.4 ratio) so also fairly long bodied.

I don't know much about what makes a great climber beyond low body mass and the odd contaminated steak, so will someone please help me out ? Many thanks for reading.

Climbing is all about power to weight ratio and how big your engine is. If you have not already been approached with a pro contract I would not worry about it. And if you ever are approached with a pro contract, you will never have to worry anyway because the team will have people called coaches to figure out what is best for you. Go out and ride for the fun of it and enjoy what you do.

_________________For certain parts stiffer is more important than lighter.

Even if your morphology is more suited to something other than climbing, working on it can be no bad thing. I'm certainly not a climber but I still work on it to keep pace on my club runs, if anything it's even more of a reason to work on it as it's a weakness I have.

Also, what's not to say you can't be multi-disciplined, whilst the Schleck's may not be a good example, contaminated steak or not, Contador can climb and TT as well.

If you're only 16 I would just focus on being the best all around rider you can be. To win on climbs you obviously have to be great at climbing, but generally you also have to be strong on the flats to make it too the climb near the front with lots of energy left and/or keep up the effort past the climb. The same with how good sprinters have to make it over the climbs to get be able to sprint (unless it's on the track).

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